Home Grown Hero …
In United’s thrilling start to the season, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have taken most applause in recognition of their sterling performances in Red. Nothing seems to warm the heart of ageing hacks more than the sight of an old-timer putting the young, vain and profane in their places, if only for a brief interlude before the call of the knacker’s yard becomes deafening.
Veteran captain Gary Neville is not the sort to be fêted by the commentariat. Possibly, it is because he has been a somewhat fitful starter for United this term. Probably, it is because his performances for the club have attained such a consistent standard that only his absence is now remarkable.
Famously derided by Jaap Stam as ‘busy,’ captain Neville suffers for what he isn’t. The United veteran is not appealingly ‘cool’ as radio pranksters have already discovered. He displays no trophy W.A.G at international tournaments. Neville has neither the goals nor the crowd-pleasing pace and tricks of a Roberto Carlos, nor the glowing reviews of the effortlessly composed Paulo Maldini.
In an age which creates celebrities to be divinely worshipped and then ritually destroyed, Neville, unlike his team mate Wayne Rooney, gives the tabloid gossip-mongers scant entertainment or room to ply their mischeif. There is the faint whiff of a sixth form prefect about him, in the way of snooker master Steve ‘Interesting’ Davis. Neville is nothing fancy. Neville is an utterly sensible professional. Neville will never be sexy.
Yet when it comes to commitment and competence, not to mention a decade of reliability, Gary Neville is a red to the core. When Neville punches the air and kisses his badge, he registers with fans far and wide as the real deal.
This, he makes plain in Opus, a detailed United history to be published in December 2006. Neville states: “I always tell the young players here, if you look down at your shirt and see a Manchester United badge, you’re not having a bad day. You’re doing all right. The day I don’t have the United badge on my chest will be a sad one for me. I don’t think I can ever have the same feeling playing for another football club. That is no criticism of anyone else, but I am so ingrained in United and it is such a big part of my life.
“The biggest clubs can have bad seasons, bad decades even, but they will never be abandoned or forgotten. That might be seen as me having a go at others, but it’s the reality. I know because I’ve seen United climb back up from the depths. I didn’t grow up watching United win championships, but that didn’t stop me loving the club or feeling it.
“Managers are important, so are directors and players, but we all come and go. It was walking into the stadium, that’s what gripped me, the size of it – I was in awe of the whole place. I just love everything; the badge, the history.
“You can fall in love with a player but, deep down, you know he’ll leave one day. That’s why I always say that the people within the club are just there to serve it. It’s the club and the badge that matters so much. The players are just adding their little bit to a massive depth of history.”
This untroubled authenticity has helped make Neville one of the longest-serving players under the constantly demanding Ferguson. Hence the manager’s concern when he reported that the player whom he has guided during an entire junior and professional career, may be out of the first team for some weeks, if he requires surgery to repair injured leg muscles.
“We’re holding our breath hoping it doesn’t really happen again, but waiting for the next one to come along,” admits Sir Alex. “We’re going to have to take a long-term view of it because if this keeps going on and on and on, we could end up round about New Year and we could lose him for a long period.
“If he carries on, fine. Then we get the bonus. But we need to assess it. If it was just the one calf we would be saying to ourselves we are going to have to take our time, but when it gets in the left calf it suggests it’s a bit different.”
Sir Alex’s evident soft spot for Neville has been aknowledged ever since the player came to public attention in the mid-1990’s. “If he was an inch taller he’d be the best centre-half in Britain,” Ferguson once said. Neville’s may lack the stature hoped for by his manager but his football intelligence is giant and has helped him overcome the sometimes naive positional play of his younger days. Observers looking for chinks in the armour of United’s rearguard, rarely detain themselves too long trying to cast the Bury-born full-back as a weak link.
United’s defensive strength in depth is such that deputy Wes Brown will be able to slot in at right back with little difficulty, should Neville’s injury-plagued season grind to a halt. But for all Brown’s versatility, he cannot offer Neville’s all-round effectiveness at fullback. Witness in Neville’s recent displays for United, the attacking adventure, the enterprising support and movement and in particular the fine pass that Rooney converted with ease to put United on level par with Sheffield United last weekend. Neville has been doing that again and again for a decade, most notably when David Beckham roamed the right flank in the glorious 1990’s.
Neville rarely appears in the same sentence as ‘great’ or ‘legend’ but as he approaches 100 caps for England, it must be hoped that he will soon earn the respect he deserves. The player, like Phil Neal, the illustrious Liverpool fullback of the 1970’s and 80’s, is solid and low profile, an unsung pro. Neville, who has more than 500 games for United, is the captain who goes about his work with single-minded application.
No-one would claim that Neville has the elegance of Ferdinand or is as robust and intimidating as Vidic. Nevertheless, he has made his talent travel a long way through grit and determination. These qualities propelled Neville into the United first team in 1992. Three years later he was picked for England and has been more or less a fixture ever since. Injuries threaten his continuity for club and country far more than other players. For all his youthful promise, current flavour of the month Micah Richards, is likely to play second fiddle to Neville in the international realm, whilst Neville remains a regular for United.
Sir Alex turned to Neville to captain both team and club following the departure of Roy Keane. It was a natural appointment. Nothing in the 20 year reign of Sir Alex Ferguson epitomises United more than the straight-talking footballer who has served the club as man and boy. Neville has used that time well to learn from his mentor and looks cut out to be a manager too. Whatever the future holds, Gary Neville is a home-grown hero. AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2006
